13 Things No One Tells You About Long Term Travel

As of the 26th February 2020, Matt and I will have been travelling full time for 10 months. Long term travel is without a doubt the most incredible and life-changing thing (🤢) I’ve ever experienced and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

However, there are certain things and lessons we’ve learned along the way that no one told us about long term travel.

It’s not always a walk in the park and there can be some challenging times, but my God is it worth every single moment, good or bad.

I actually wrote a list of the 13 things no one tells you about planning a trip around the world just before we flew out to New Zealand last April and today’s post is a sort of follow up of all the things no one tells you about long term travel when you’re actually on the trip!

You’ll miss your family more than you realise

While of course it’s to be expected that you’ll miss your loved ones back at home, I don’t think anything could have quite prepared me for just how much I would miss my family and friends.

The first few months were definitely the hardest and as we’re approaching 10 months of full time travel, I no longer feel that horrible panging feeling of missing my family quite as intensely as I did at first.

It can be tricky to accept that you’re not going to see the people who you’re used to being surrounded by everyday, for a long time, but one thing that keeps me going whenever I feel a strong surge of homesickness is knowing how proud I’m making my family by doing what I’m doing.

You’re so much stronger and more capable than you thought – the truth about long term travel

Following on from the point above about missing your family and friends, long term travel really teaches you that you’re much stronger and more capable of things that you thought.

There have been so many obstacles we’ve had to overcome and challenges we’ve had to face while travelling over the last 10+ months and I’m so proud of how much better I cope with things now.

Of course, I’m not perfect, and there are still plenty of things that I struggle with, but for the most part I’ve really surprised myself with just how well I can manage in times of hardship and inconvenience.

You’ll learn to appreciate the little things more

There are so many things that I took for granted at home before we started travelling (not being bitten by mosquitoes every single day, the luxury of a hot, working shower and the ease and convenience of just nipping to the shop and making your own food, just to name a few).

Now though, I’ve learned to appreciate the little things much more and I’ve learned to acknowledge that the seemingly small and mundane things that you wouldn’t even bat an eyelid at back at home are now the things I miss the most.

When we do eventually go back to the UK, no matter for how long, I know that I’ll notice things better and truly appreciate the little things in life that used to seem somewhat insignificant before we started travelling.

It’s not always as glamorous as it looks

I think this is something that I was definitely considerate of before travelling, but since seeing so many different cities, towns and countries, I’m very much aware that not every aspect of travelling is quite as glamorous as it looks.

There are many people that I follow on Instagram who always make travelling and the various destinations that they visit look completely flawless and utterly perfect and I’ve come to the realisation that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Of course, the world is full of some truly spectacular sights and stunning scenery, but it’s also home to some proper grim places too and not everything is quite as spotless as it originally seems.

You become much better at planning

I’ve always been a Type A, ultra-control freak and a meticulous planner in most areas of my life so I didn’t think I could really improve too vastly when it came to long term travelling.

However, I’ve surprised myself quite a lot by just how much better I am now at planning.

Travelling for a prolonged period of time involves a lot of hard work and planning to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible within your control. Therefore, it really teaches you to be more organised and wary of what needs booking and when, how to get to and from a certain place, plus an abundance of other useful skills.

You learn to budget so well – long term travel truths

As well as learning to plan better, full time travel has also improved my budgeting skills ten-fold, too.

I was always very good at budgeting and I’ve always been one to save my money, rather than spend it. But since travelling, I’ve had to learn how to let go a bit and not only spend my hard-earned money, but also how to spend it wisely too.

If you’re travelling for an indefinite amount of time, you’ll need to learn to budget very well to ensure that you don’t run out of funds before you’ve had enough of seeing the world!

Things don’t always go accordingly to plan 

Again, this is probably something that is perhaps to be expected when you’re travelling for a long time but things really don’t always go to plan.

From cancelled bus journeys, double bookings at your hostel, to whole entire parts of your trip having to be indefinitely postponed due to certain viruses taking over many countries 👀

There’ll be many bumps in the road and unexpected occurrences that you never even dreamed of but it’s those challenges and triumphs over tribulations that will make you appreciate the bittersweet moments of travel that much more.

You’ll meet people that you’ll never, ever forget 

Without a doubt one of my absolute favourite parts of travelling is meeting so many new people.

We’ve literally met friends for life who we met in George Town and then again in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Siem Reap and I’m eternally grateful for the people that travelling allows me to meet.

If there’s one piece of advice you take from this post it’s to be open to meeting new people. Whether they appear to be like-minded or not, open yourself up to the possibility that you might just meet someone who changes your life.

Some days are complete crap – the truth about long term travel

It’s hard to expect someone to be happy all day, every day, no matter where they are in the world but I’ve definitely felt guilty on more than one occassion for not feeling completely, 100% happy all the time.

And that’s OK.

Some days while travelling can be truly and utterly crap (I should know, we’ve experienced our fair share of ‘crap’ days over the last 10+ months). People will think that you’ll never have a bad day if you’re lounging on the beach in Thailand, or sipping cocktails on a rooftop bar in Singapore, but the truth is, we all have bad days, regardless of where we are in the world.

Learning to accept that those days will still exist even when you’re visiting the most exotic locations on the planet is important and it’s reassuring to know that you’re still human, even if you are island hopping around the Philippines.

Getting ill is inevitable (and a huge inconvenience)

Unfortunately, getting ill is just part and parcel of travelling long term and I’ve definitely been ill on more than a few occasions over the last 10+ months.

It absolutely sucks when you’re on an overnight bus across Thailand and you feel like your head is going to explode and that you might very well be sick everywhere. Been there, done that.

It’s not nice.

But if you’re travelling for a long time, then you’re bound to get ill at least once, just as you would if you were at home.

It’s really OK if you don’t love a place as much as other people – long term travel

One thing that I struggled to come to terms with at first is when I discovered that a supposedly ‘beloved’ location or destination just didn’t live up to my expectations and I was left feeling bitterly disappointed.

One place in particular that I really didn’t enjoy as much as everyone else claims to is Bali. I personally felt that Instagram had somewhat tainted it and that top tourist destinations on the island were in fact nothing but a sneaky camera trick.

If you’re travelling to so many different places, then of course you’re not going to be expected to love every single place you go. Some people may fall in love with a certain place, whereas you could quite happily never return.

It doesn’t mean that you’re particularly right or wrong, it just means that you’re justified to feel the way you do and it’s OK to not be as obsessed with a tourist spot as others are.

You’ll discover that the world is such a big place (and yet still so small)

When travelling for a long time, it’s say to say that you’ll be visiting plenty of different places all over the world and you’ll soon see just how vast and beautiful the world really is.

However, I’ve also learned that despite the world being a huge and wildly remarkable place, it’s also much smaller than you realise too.

When we were in Kampot, Cambodia, we actually bumped into two people who we’d already bumped into in Siem Reap, just a week before. We then proceeded to see them in various other locations that we were travelling to while we were there.

While the country of Cambodia is pretty bloody huge, it’s also a small world and the ability to experience that closeness and realise that it’s not all that intimidating is actually pretty special.

You’ll learn to sleep pretty much anywhere

This is one thing in particular that I’m delighted no one told me about as it’s been such a pleasant surprise learning that I can sleep pretty much anywhere.

From 30+ hour flights in economy class, to 12+ hour overnight bus journeys, to small speedboats between islands in Thailand, I’ve discovered that I can sleep almost anywhere and it’s such a nice feeling knowing that I don’t need a lavish bed with a high thread count in order to get my beauty sleep.

I hope you’ve found my insights into long term travel inspiring and helpful and if you’re in the process of planning a trip around the world, then get ready for the adventure of your life; it’s gonna be epic!

Related posts:

• 13 Things No One Tells You About Planning A Trip Around The World
• 9 Lessons I’ve Learned In My First Year Of Self Employment
• In Five Years’ Time – Looking To The Future
• The Risk Of Travelling
• 6 Months Travelling – New Zealand, Australia & Asia So Far

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Have you ever considered long term travel? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram @imjustagirl_16.